The Senate Finance Committee easily approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health-care system, clearing the way for President Obama's top domestic initiative to advance to a historic debate before the full Senate. The vote in favor of the bill was 14 to 9.
Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine broke with her party and joined all 13 Democrats on the committee in voting for the package, which would spend $829 billion over the next decade to make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans who would otherwise go without coverage.
"Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it," Snowe said. "But when history calls, history calls."
She added: "There are many miles to go in this legislative journey. . . . People do have concerns about what we will do with reform. But at the same time, they want us to continue working. And that is what my vote to report this bill out of committee represents."
President Obama praised Snowe for her "political courage" and "seriousness of purpose."
"We are now closer than ever before to passing health-care reform, but we're not there yet," he said. "Now's not the time to pat ourselves on the back. . . . Now's the time to dig in and work even harder to get this done."
Snowe entered politics in 1973, when she was elected to fill the seat of her late husband, state Rep. Peter Snowe, who died in a car accident that year. As one of the only Republican moderates left in the Senate, Snowe has been at the center of some of the upper chamber's most divisive policy debates and has helped craft compromises on some of the nation's most polarizing issues.
Senator Snowe has a history of being in the middle of things. Throughout her career in public office, she has shown a willingness to defy her party’s leadership. Snowe supports abortion rights, opposes drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has backed proposals long-heralded as bedrocks of the Democratic platform, including adding prescription drug benefits to Medicare and raising the minimum wage. She was the swing vote in the Senate Finance Committee during 2009 debate over President Obama's health-care reform package.
Snowe has a history of breaking barriers. In 1978, at the age of 31, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is the only woman in history to serve in both houses of her state legislatures and both chambers of Congress. These accomplishments prompted Forbes magazine in 2005 to name Snowe the 54th most powerful woman in the world.
Time magazine named her one of the "Ten Best Senators" in 2006.
Snowe’s dedication to her constituents has helped her maintain a loyal base at home in Maine. She won re-election to a third term in 2008 with 61 percent of the vote. She is up for re-election in 2012.
The battle of Health Care Reform looms on with "miles to go" before the issue is finalized. Meanwhile, the fate of millions of Americans hangs in the balance.
Photo Sources: Senate Finance Committee-Harry Hamburg/Associated Press; Wikipedia
Official Photo of Olympia Snowe
New York Times, Washington Post, Wikipedia,
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